Composition of matter



chain arrangement,

Patented July 6, 1948 COMPOSITION OF MATTE-R Vladimir N. Ipatieif, Chicago, and Vladimir Haensel, Clarendon Hills, 11]., assignors to Universal Oil Products Company, corporation of Delaware No Drawing.

2 Claims. 1 is a division of our copending No. 424,276, filed December 24, 1941, now Patent No. 2,386,957, October 16, 1945. This invention relates to the dehydrogenation and dehydrocyclization of aliphatic hydrocarbons to produce aromatics therefrom and is char- This application application Serial fective for this purpose.

The invention is more specifically concerned with theuse of coordinated conditions oftemperature, pressure and space velocity when employing the particular types of catalysts which will be presently described.

The principal value of processes for the delay drocyclization of aliphatic hydrocarbons lies in the fact that by this reaction, particularly when catalysts are used, high yields of aromatic hydrocarbons are produced having the same number of carbon atoms as the aliphatic hydrocar-v duced on account of the formation of polycyclic ring compounds such as naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, etc.

When a given hydrocarbon, such as for example, hexane is dehydrogenated in the presence of properly selected catalyst and under suitably related conditions of operation, yields of benzol much higher than those obtainable by non-catalytic cracking may be obtained. Similarly, high yields of aromatics may be obtained by dehydrocycling analogous unsaturated hydrocarbons containing at least 6 carbon atoms in straight including alkenes, alkynes and alkadienes, although conditions of' operation when employing these unsaturated charging stocks will be different than those employed in the case of corresponding parafiin hydrocarbons.

In one specific embodiment the present invention comprises the treatment of aliphatic hydrocarbons for the production of substantial yields of aromatic hydrocarbons therefrom which con- Original ap 1941, Serial No. 424 2,386,957, October 16, application March 28,

Chicago, 111., a

plication December 24, ,276, now Patent No. 1945. Divided and this 1945, Serial No. "585,239%

sists in subjecting said aliphatic hydrocarbons at elevated temperatures to contact with composite catalysts comprising essentially zinc oxide, copper and-alumina.

The catalysts which characterize the present invention-are preferably prepared by a series of steps involving first the precipitation of the carbonates of zinc and copper upon prepared granular alumina suspended in aqueous solutions, containing salts of 'both zinc and copper, by the addition of ammonium carbonate or alkali metal carbonatesto the solutions. Precipitations are usually carried out at a temperature of approximately 0., although the precipitating reagent may be added at ordinary temperatures and the solution :then heated to about 80 C. after which the suspended material is filtered, washed substantially free of absorbed or occluded salts, heated at approximately 250 0., formed into particles of regulated size such as, for example, small cylindrical pellets by customary procedures and then reducedby hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gas mixtures.

In catalysts thus prepared reducing conditions are-preferably employed which almost completely reduce the copper oxide to metallic copper but which do not reduce the zinc oxide to any extent. By this means greater stability of the catalyst is assured since there will be substantially no volatilization of zinc at the conditions employed when hydrocarbons are treated. It is good practice to have the finally prepared catalyst consist of about 15 per cent zinc oxide, 5 per cent copper and 80 per cent alumina by weight, although alternative catalysts of good activity may comprise not less than about 5% zinc oxide, not more than about 10% copper and the remainder alumina. .While the higher percentages of copper may give initially higher catalytic activity, it has been found that pelleted materials containing over this percentage have lower crushing strengths so that they are inclined to develop fines on handling. If the catalysts are to be used in the form of a powder, the relative amounts of the zinc'oxide'co-pper and alumina can be varied over a Wider range in case advantages are gained thereby. Instead of concurrently precipitating zinc and coppercarbona'tes, they may be deposited successively upon the alumina.

' Thealumina employed a a relatively inert supops which is not as good a carrier for the active components of the catalyst composites. pletely dehydrated alumina is not suitable in the present types of catalyst composites.

C., the alpha form of alumina devel- Com- In utilizing the describedtypes of catalysts for producing aromatics from aliphatic hydrocarbons, the temperatures employed will vary from about 450 to about 650 0., depending upon the type of aliphatic treated, its molecular weight;

boiling point, etc. tained at approximately atmospheric pressure and at liquid space velocities varying from about 0.1 to about volumes of liquid charge per hour per volume of catalyst space. When cycling olefins, diolefins or acetylenes, best conditions of operation will usually include the use of subatmospheric pressures with space velocities within the lower ranges of those specified, these conditions tending to lessen the formation of carbon from undesirable side reactions due to the decomposition of the unsaturated compounds.

In the ordinary operation of the process a hydrocarbon or mixture of hydrocarbons to be treated is vaporized, heated to an optimum temperature in the range specified and passed through a bed of granular catalyst at a space velocity found by trial to produce the best results. Reactions of cyclization are endothermic and it is convenient to employ reactors of the adiabatic type, the vapors of the hydrocarbon charge being admitted to the catalyst chamber at a temperature somewhat above the optimum and leaving at a temperature somewhat below. After being discharged from the reactor the products are subjected to fractionation to separate hydrogen and other fixed gases, the aromatic hydrocarbons formed and unconverted materials which it may be desired to recycle for further treatment. After a period of hydrocarbon processing, the catalysts gradually accumulate some carbonaceous deposits which may be periodically burned off by the use of oxidizing gas mixtures while other reactors in parallel connection are operating upon the charge to the plant.

In some instances improved results particularly in respect to carbon deposists may be obtained when limited amounts of hydrogen are added to the vapors of the hydrocarbon undergoing dehydrocyclization, this effect being probably due to the suppression of cracking reactions.

The following data showing the results of experiments are introduced to illustrate the character of the results drocarbons are convertedto aromatic hydrocarbons while in contact with the present types of catalysts, although neither examples of catalyst manufacture nor of their use in dehydrocyclization are indicated to unduly limit the scope of the invention.

The method of preparing catalysts of the present character is exemplified in the following description:

183 parts by weight of zinc nitrate and 23.!

Best results are usually ob-- obtainable when aliphatic hy-' hydrogen and about air to remove the lubricant parts by weight of copper nitrate were dissolved in 1000 parts by weight of water and added to a rapidly agitated suspension of 192.5 parts by weight of aluminum oxide in 2500 parts of water. The entire material was heated to 80-85 C. and 81 parts by weight of ammonium carbonate were dissolved in 500 parts of water and added to the hot suspension. After the addition of the ammonium carbonate solution, the, suspension, now. consisting of basic? copper ';carbonate, zinc carbonate and aluminum oxide, was cooled without agitating and finally washed by decantation. This was followed by filtering and further washing. The precipitate was dried at 250 C. for

hours and reduced with hydrogen at 225 C. for 1 hourv usinga mixture of about one volume of three volumes of nitrogen.

The reduced catalyst, now consisting essentially of copper, zinc oxide and alumina, was pelleted using a hydrogenated cocoanut oil as a lubricant. The pilled catalyst was treated with and again reduced with a hydrogen-nitrogen mixture at the operating temperature.

The composition of the reduced catalyst as determined by analysis was approximately as follows:

ZnO 15.0 Cu 5.4 A1203 79.6

Two catalysts prepared as above described and designated below as A and B were used for the production of toluene from normal heptane under substantially atmospheric pressure and at temperatures and hourly liquid space velocities indicated in the following table:

Run Duration Furnace Hourly Per cent N0 Catalyst of Run, Temp., Liquid Yield of hours Space Toluene Velocity 1 A 3 567 0.23 33 2.." A Regenerated 2 567 0.23 35 3 B 1 560 1.0 18 4 B 9 568 0.37 30 5 B Regeneratcd 3 /5 567 0.31 32 It can b seen from the above data that at a relatively constant temperature best results are obtained on'both catalysts A and B when using space velocities of the order of 0.23 and 0.31 respectively. It is to be noted also that the activity of both catalysts was not reduced, but rather restored and even improved after regeneration. By recycling of the unconverted heptane the ultimate yield of toluene was raised to about 65 per cent in run 2. y

The data given in the following table include those obtained on further runs with catalyst B at varying temperatures and show that best once through yields are obtained at the furnace temperature of 537" C.

Av. Hourly Liquid Space Velocity Duration of Rum, Hours Tgrrp. Furnace Run No.

o. 72 v c. 77 0. 5s

NMM

The following data indicate the effect on car-' bon deposits when using hydrogen in connection with the present types of catalysts. Catalyst B was used to dehydrocycle normal heptane and the following table shows the conditions of oper- We claim as our invention:

1. A catalyst consisting essentially of a major proportion of alumina, from about 5% to about 15% by weight of zinc oxide and from about 5% to about 10% by Weight of copper.

2. A catalyst consisting essentially of about 80% by Weight of alumina, about 15% by weight of zinc oxide and about 5% by Weight of copper.

VLADIMIR N. IPATIEFF'. VLADIMIR HAENSEL.

REFERENGES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,746,781 Lazier Feb. 11, 1930 2,077,409 Graves Apr, 20, 1937 2,327,189 Ipatieff et a1 Aug. 17, 1943 2,334,100 Ipatiefi et a1 Nov. 9, 1943 2,366,531 Ipatieff et al Jan. 2, 1945 

